Have you ever thought about some of the most famous people who went missing? Well, today you are going to find out the list of well-known actors – actresses, musicians, socialists, journalists, Pilot, and even a plane Hijacker, who at some point, been reported missing and others totally vanished, never to be found.
With no trackback left behind these mysterious disappearances, not even the bodies were recovered, with family, friends, and fans left to wonder forever what might have happened to them. The conspiracy behind their mysterious fates, not surprisingly, run rampant. And Kurt Cobain is also on the list.
Celebs who were missing include Glenn Miller, Kurt Cobain, Bison Dele and Philip Taylor Kramer.
11. Philip Taylor Kramer
Philip Taylor Kramer, an American bass guitar player who played for the rock band Iron Butterfly and later becoming an inventor and computer engineering executive, went mysteriously missing after calling her wife for the final goodbye.
The case is from February 1995 on the day Karmer was supposed to have drove to the airport in LA, to pickup a business associate and his wife, but called them to go directly to their hotel instead, informing that he will meet them later. Mysteriously he was reported to spent at least 45 minutes at the airport for no reasonable reasons.
He later made calls to his wife, and to police, saying that “I’m going to kill myself”, and Added “I want everyone to know, O.J Simpson is innocent. They did it.”. Cryptic enough, he was hired just before his disappearance to analyze the authenticity of a videotape that the FBI and DEA had on O.J Simpson murder trial. Philip Taylor Kramer was never heard from again after his last call to the police.
A massive search operation was carried out to find Kramer, including many news reports, and talk show segments including an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, America’s Most Wanted, The Unexplained (“Strange Disappearances,” first aired June 7, 2000) and Unsolved Mysteries. Many conspiracy theories surfaced relating to his death after he went missing.
However, none of these helped in finding whereabouts of Kramer.
Status: Deceased
4 years later, on May 29, 1999, Kramer’s Ford Aerostar minivan was located along with his skeletal remains at the bottom of Decker Canyon near Malibu, California. Kramer’s remains were discovered by some photographers who were looking for old car wrecks to shoot. Authorities ruled out Philip Taylor Kramer’s death as probable suicide committed on the day he was last heard on.
But, his father denied that he killed himself, he believed that his son could have never killed himself, and quoted that “Tylor, a long time ago told me he was bothered by some people, they wanted what he was doing and some of them even threatened him. He once told me, if I ever say I’m going to kill myself, Don’t you believe it one bit, I will be needing help.”
The whole case of Kramer is so mysterious, due to many facts, including him being worked on the MX missile guidance system for a contractor of the US Department of Defense. Adding more mysteries he disappeared just after having made what some believe was a monumental discovery – a math formula “for transmissions at ‘faster than light’ speed”.
10. Kurt Cobain
Status: Deceased
Kurt Cobain died on April 5, 1994, presumably by committing suicide. Prior to his death, Cobain had rushed from a rehab facility in California and came back to Seattle, Washington, to the house he shared with spouse Courtney Love and their young little girl, Frances Bean. There, it is widely believed, Cobain killed himself with a shotgun. His body was found on April 8, 1994, and a suicide note was found at the scene (alongside the firearm).
Kurt Cobain’s whereabouts were hazy before he was found dead. His mom reported a missing person report on her child, and Courtney Love recruited a P.I. to attempt to track him down.
He was spotted by the family’s nanny and furthermore at an outdoor supplies store purchasing shotgun cartridges. Cobain apparently attempted to mask himself while in Seattle, wearing “a jacket and big shades.” Numerous individuals still identified him, in spite of the bizarre get-up.
The circumstances surrounding Kurt Cobain’s untimely death have brought about a few speculations. Some believed that Cobain was killed, referring to irregularities in police reports and proof, in addition to other things. Others refer to the weird idea of Cobain’s supposed suicide note, contending that it’s to a greater extent a retirement declaration than a last message.
Still, others believe that it is highly unlikely Kurt Cobain could have been coherent enough to fire the shotgun and end his own life since he’d infused a deadly measure of heroin at the times before the trigger was pulled.
9. Richey Edwards
Status: Presumably Dead
Manic Street Preachers guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards vanished on February 1, 1995. He was last spotted at the Embassy Hotel in London, England. Subsequent to leaving the lodging, Edwards headed to his apartment in Cardiff, Wales. The 27-year-old artist’s vehicle was found over about two weeks after later, left at the Severn View services station.
Richey Edwards’ body was never found, however in November of 2008 – over 13 years after his vanishing – his parents had him formally declared as “assumed dead.” The mystery surrounding Edwards continues to this day. Nobody seems to know precisely what happened and reported sightings of Edwards are ongoing.
Did Richey Edwards die? Or he decided to commit suicide? Or just happened to be still be living, in a disguise?
8. Dorothy Arnold
Status: Presumably Dead
Dorothy Arnold, a resident of New York City and a wealthy socialite disappeared on December 12, 1910, after she left her family’s home to go out on the town to shop. Coming from an extremely well established and successful family, 25-year-old Dorothy’s father was a perfume importer, and her uncle was SCOTUS justice, Rufus Wheeler Packham.
Before going missing, Dorothy was busy in finding the most suitable gown for one of the parties during the high society season in Manhattan. She did a lot of shopping that day, and was spotted at a candy store purchasing chocolates, and later at a book store on 27th St. at Fifth Avenue. Several friends reported seeing Dorothy, while she was out, including Gladys King (the last person to see her).
When Dorothy didn’t return home that evening, her family became concerned and put out fleers, hoping to find out that she might be simply visiting her friend. Rather than calling the police, they called a family attorney who conducted his own investigation, trying to figure out where she might have been, without any luck.
Six weeks later, without any sign of Dorothy Arnold, her parents finally contacted the authorities and eventually Dorothy’s disappearance went public- though no leads were ever uncovered. This raised many suspicion and theories, some believing that she took her own life because she wanted to be a writer while her family “mocked her”. While her father believed she might have met a foul play on that fateful day as she walked through New York’s central Park, after being exhausted of looking for his daughter.
7. J-Kwon
Status: Found
The 34-year-old “Tipsy” rapper, J-Kown also went missing once in February 2010, sending his record label into a tailspin. J-Kown eventually disappeared for a whole month before Gracie Productions issued a statement asking for any information for J-Kown’s whereabouts.
In this bizzare case, even a social media handle @WhereisJKwon surfaced on Twitter with followers leaving tips and info. People even went door-to-door trying to find any evidence for tracking back to the rapper.
More media reports kept flooding and at some point, J-Kwon saw them. After being off the grid for several weeks, J-Kwon finally got in touch with Gracie Products, explaining that he was “taking some time to himself, as he sometimes does, not realizing that people would start to worry after a while.”
Well, that is not a good statement to give after you disappear for a whole month and you do not “Realize” that everyone will worry about you. But interestingly J-Kwon’s fourth studio album was released less than three weeks later, Publicity stunting much?
6. Bison Dele
Status: Presumably dead
Bison Dele was an American professional basketball player, playing at the center for teams such as Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, LA Clippers, Denver Nuggets, and Orlando Magic.
Many believed that he was killed by his older brother, in 2002 while out to sea. Dele, his girlfriend Serena Karlan, his older brother Miles Dabord, and a skipper Bertrand Saldo sailed on July 6, 2002 on Dele’s catamaran from Tahiti, suspiciously Miles Dabord, Dele’s brother was the only one who was seen or heard from after July 8. Dele and Karlan regularly made contact with their family members earlier. On July 20, Dabord was the only one on the vessel when he bought it back into Tahiti.
Dabord was on a run and forged Dele’s signature in order to buy $152,000 worth of gold using his brother’s name and his passport as identification. Two days before, Dele’s catamaran was found off the coast of Tahiti with its nameplate removed and some bullet holes patched. At the same time, Dabord called his mother, Patricia Phillips, telling her that he would never hurt Dele and also that he could not survive in the prison.
The only source of information regarding the death (or missing) case of 3 people, Dele, Karlan, and Saldo were Dabord, who intentionally overdosed on insulin slipping into a coma. On September 27, 2002, Dabord was declared dead in California Hospital.
Before slipping into a coma and dying, Dabord told a not so satisfying story, in which he stated that he and his brother had an argument and that Karlan accidentally slipped, getting her head stuck on part of the boat, killing her on-spot. When Saldo tried reporting the death to police, Dele panicked and killed Saldo; Dabord, on the other hand, shot his brother in self-defense, threw the bodies overboard and came back to the U.S.
While the whole scenario seems suspicious, whats most fascinating is what could have been the reason behind Dabord taking life of his own brother, since his statement sure is hazy.
5. Glenn Miller
Status: Presumably dead
Alton Glenn Miller was an American best selling recording artist, composer, and bandleader from the late 1930s making him one of the most iconic big band leaders ever. Miller tried to voluntarily join the U.S Navy after the U.S entered World War II, but he was rejected by U.S Navy stating he was “not young enough” to be recruited. Miller, being 38 years old at that time, decided to write a letter to Army Brigadier General Charles Young, and was eventually accepted in Army as in charge of a modernized Army band. Miller was soon transferred to the Army Air Forces, he gradually became famous between the fellow army men.
His patriotic intentions of entertaining the Allied Forces earned him a good reputation and also the tank of captain, later promoting to major by august 1944.
On December 15, 1944, Miller was due to fly from the United Kingdom to Paris, for making arrangements to move his entire band, for playing in a concert for U.S Troops.
However, his plane disappeared while flying somewhere over the English Channel. Neither Miller and the other two occupants nor the plane were ever found. His disappearance was not public until December 24, 1944, more than 1 week later to his disappearance. A ceremony was held for Alton Glenn Miller on March 24, 1945, where he was awarded the Bronze Star, presented to his wife.
Many theories surfaced till day after Miller disappeared, one being that his plane crashed because of its carburetor, which was of a type known to ice up in cold weather.
In 2019 it was reported that TIGHAR (The International Group of Historic Aircraft Recovery) will investigate Miller’s disappearance.
4. Sean Flynn
Status: Not found / Presumably Dead
Sean Flynn, an America actor and freelance photojournalist, best known for his coverage during the Vietnam War was the son of actress Lili Damita and Errol Flynn. He was very well known for going “extensive limits” of danger to cover the life of an army man at war. He regularly traveled with special forces in some very remote areas.
In 1970, Flynn and another photojournalist Dana Stone left Phnom Penh (In Cambodia) to attend a government sponsored press conference in Saigon. Rather than using Limousines that the other journalists were travelling in, the two decided to use motorcycles, both having reputation for going to extra lengths in dangerous places.
The two were apparently captured by communist guerrillas while on their way on Highway 1. Although it is known that Flynn and Stone were captured by Viet Cong Guerrillas at a checkpoint, but what happened after that is still remains unknown.
Flynn’s mother spent an enormous amount of money in looking for her son, without any luck. Not Flynn and Stone, neither their bodies were ever recovered.
3. Jean Spangler
Status: Not found
Jean Elizabeth Spangler was an American model, dancer, and actress who played bit parts in several Hollywood films and television shows. Spangler mysteriously disappeared after leaving her home in Lost Angeles, telling her sister-in-law that she was going to meet with her ex-husband and later going to work as an extra in a film.
What makes the case more mysterious is that after police started investigating the missing case of Spangler, they came to notice that there was no work scheduled for the day Spangler left home telling her sister-in-law about the work in the film. Her ex-husband also denied seeing his former wife for several weeks when police questioned him.
Although Jean Spangler’s last sight was by a saleswoman at Farmers Market, a grocery store not far from Spangler’s home, she recalled seeing Spangler browsing store around 6 PM that day, and noticed that she was “appeared to be waiting for someone”. But she was never found.
2 days later, on October 9, 1949, Spangler’s purse was discovered from Griffith Park in Lost Angeles, around 5.5 miles away from her home. It appeared to be snatched from Spangler as the strap on the purse was torn loose. There was no money found in it but a note addressed to “Kirk” and “Dr.Scott” was found, the note read – “Kirk: Can’t wait any longer, Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away,”.
The note ended up in a comma. Mysteriously neither “Kirk” nor “Dr.Scott” could be located. After Spangler’s mother returned to Lost Angeles, she told police about someone named “Kirk” had picked-up Spangler twice from her house but always stayed in the car, but even a long search by police and around 200 volunteers, there was no sign of Spangler.
Mysteriously, Spangler at the time of her disappearance completed filming in the movie “Young Man with a Horn” starring Kirk Douglas. This led to public speculation that he was the “Kirk” mentioned in the note found from Spangler’s purse. But, on finding about the note, Douglas, himself called the police stating that he has no involvement with Spangler and neither he knew her. Although, later when interviewed over telephone, Douglas Kirk accepted that he had a little chat with Spangler on the movie set and “kidded with her a bit”, but never had spent time with her outside the movie set.
It was later discovered that Spangler was 3 months pregnant when she went missing and she talked about getting an abortion which was illegal at that time. One of her friends and actor, Rober Cummings told police that she had told about having a casual affair at the time not mentioning with whom.
The case kept taking new turns and lots of theories surfaced regarding missing Spangler, one being that Spangler was in orbits of various mob affiliates such including Anthony Cornero and Mickey Cohen, as she had worked as a dancer at Florentine Garden, a nightclub owned by Mark Hansen and Nils Thor Granlund. She was allegedly seen with Davy Ogul an associate of Cohen’s. And furthermore, Ogul disappeared two days later after Spangler went missing. Police investigated this side of the case as well, without any luck, but later in 1950, a customs agent in Texas reported sighting of Ogul and a woman who looked like Spangler, in a local hotel. The hotel clerk identified Spangler from a photograph, but neither Ogul nor Spangler’s names were found in the hotel register.
The case went cold after several years, and Spangler still remains listed as a missing person, the LAPD has not closed the case to this very day.
2. D.B Cooper
On November 24, 1971, D.B Cooper, also known as Dan Cooper (which later came out to be fake alias) boarded the Northwest Orient Airline flight 305.
Soon after the takeoff, while the flight was in the airspace between Portland, Oregon and Seattle; the man handed a letter to the flight attendant Florence Schaffner, but he wasn’t expecting her to read it and same happened as well. The attendant folded the note, slipping into her purse, to which Cooper responded, “Miss … you better look at that, I have a bomb”.
The Boeing 727 was hijacked by this mysterious man D.B Cooper who demanded $200,000 ($1.3 million dollars of current time) cash all in 20$ bills and 4 parachutes (2 front and 2 back). The flight was soon landed in Seattle-Tacoma Airport, where Cooper’s demands were fulfilled and he was handed over the knapsack of money along with the parachutes he asked for. The flight took off again along with some of the flight crew members, and soon D.B Cooper was ready to jump out of the plane, with very specific details about the course of the flight, he instructed the flight crew for constant speed of 100 knots (185 km/h), maximum altitude of 10,000 feet and wing flaps lowered 15 degrees and around 8 PM Copper jumped off the plane through the tail side apt air-stair apparatus a Boeing 727 has.
Two fighter F-106 Jets were following the hijacked plane, one above and one below out of Cooper’s sight, along with a Lockheed T-23 Trainer. But surprisingly none of the pilots noticed Cooper jumping off the plane.
One of the biggest and long-run search operation started to find D.B Cooper, which included suspects investigation, aerial and ground search done by both FBI and local police. Since no one knew where Cooper might have dropped, a re-creation of the whole incident was done, by using the same Boeing 727 at the same conditions like 8:13 PM time and dropping a 90 KG sled out of the aircraft. Without any luck, there was no sign of Cooper, the parachutes, nor the money.
People came up with lots of conspiracies related to Cooper, some suggested that Cooper was an FBI agent and was helped in his disappearance, some believed him to be dead, but it’s indefinite whether someday the truth will be there or not.
45 Years of investigation and yet Cooper remains a mystery, not his name, neither the fact that he survived or not is known, which makes it one of the most fascinating stories in history.
1. Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897, is one of the history’s most well-known personality who achieved remarkable success in the field of aviation. She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic ocean, and the first person ever to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland.
On July 2, 1937, while attempting to circumnavigate the globe, Amelia Earhart disappeared in mysterious circumstances, along with with her navigator friend, Fred Noonan, somewhere over the Atlantic.
Before completely vanishing at 7.20 AM, Earhart reported her position, 20 miles southwest of the Nukumanu Islands. The Itasca received the transmission message from the Earhart: “We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Gas is running low. Unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet.” They replied back to Earhart but there were no clues that they received the message.
A massive search and rescue operation, the most expensive air and sea search in American history was conducted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt but unfortunately, no traces of Earhart and the wreckage of plain were found.
On January 5, 1939, Earhart was officially declared dead. In its report, the U.S. government concluded that Earhart and Noonan had run out of fuel and crashed into the open ocean. What happened after the crash is still an unsolved mystery.
Although several theories surfaced regarding Amelia’s odd disappearance, one most convincing is the Gardner Island Hypothesis. The theory suggests that Earhart and Noonan had missed the Howland Island and landed some 350 miles to the southwest on Gardner Island, now called Nikumaroro which was an uninhabited place at that time.
This theory has gained popularity in recent years due to the discovery of several artifacts that could be connected to Earhart. Some of them include an empty jar of the freckle cream she preferred and a piece of Plexiglas similar to that used in the Lockheed Electra airplane she flew.
The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) believes that Earhart—and perhaps Noonan—may have survived for days or even weeks on the island as castaways before dying there.
What happened to Amelia Earhart is still a mystery, and without any more leads in the case, it’s probably will remain the most popular missing person case in history.
Now that you have read about Most Famous People Who Mysteriously Disappeared, you might like reading about 11 Last-Minute Decision That Changed The World. You might also like reading about 10 Most Mysterious Books That No One Has Explanation About.
